CSDE Welcomes Two External Research Affiliates!
Posted: 2/14/2024 (CSDE Research)
CSDE is pleased to introduce two of our new External Research Affiliates. Rachel E. Wilbur, PhD, MPH, is an Assistant Research Professor in the Institute for Research and Education to Advance Community Health (IREACH) at Washington State University. Her research focus is on the role of cultural engagement and revitalization in promoting wellbeing for American Indian and Alaska Native communities, and she is particularly invested in community- and strengths-based research. Taylor Okonek is an assistant professor in the Department of Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science at Macalestar College. In 2023, she completed her PhD in Biostatistics at UW. Her current line of research involves developing new statistical methods for estimating child mortality in low- and middle-income countries with complex survey data. Read more about Wilbur and Okonek in the full story!
Rachel Wilbur – Assistant Research Professor, Institute for Research and Education to Advance Community Health (IREACH, Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine, Washington State University) Rachel E. Wilbur, PhD, MPH, is an Assistant Research Professor with IREACH in the Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine and is descendant Tolowa and Chetco. Her research focus is on the role of cultural engagement and revitalization in promoting wellbeing for American Indian and Alaska Native communities, and she is particularly invested in community- and strengths-based research. She received both her MPH in health behavior and her PhD in biological anthropology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill before continuing her training as a postdoctoral fellow in Indigenous Community Wellbeing at Harvard Medical School, where she was also a scholar with the Harvard University Native American Program. She currently serves as a member of the National Institutes of Health All of Us Research Program Indigenous Research Working Group.
Taylor Okonek – Assistant Professor, Department of Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science, Macalester College. Taylor Okonek is currently an Assistant Professor of Statistics at Macalester College, and completed her Ph.D. in Biostatistics at the University of Washington (UW) under the supervision of Jon Wakefield (a CSDE Affiliate) in Summer 2023. Her current line of research involves developing new statistical methods for estimating child mortality in low- and middle-income countries with complex survey data. She is currently working towards involving undergraduates at Macalester College in research projects related to age heaping and official statistics production for the United Nations. Her new lines of research is actively pursuing research with collaborators at Macalester related to ecological interactions in communities that live in close contact with large mammals, and the impact these interactions have on human and animal populations.
These affiliates bring a wealth of knowledge and unique approaches that enhance our community of demographers and collectively advances population science. We look forward to supporting each of them as they pursue their research. You can learn more about their individual research interests by visiting their affiliate pages, linked above.
If you are interested in becoming an affiliate or you know of someone who should become one, you can invite them to do so by directing them to this page. Affiliate applications are reviewed quarterly, by CSDE’s Executive Committee.